Submarine anchorage



Jan. 29, 1952 .J. M. PAGE, JR, ETAL 2,583,965

SUBMARINE ANCHORAGE Filed Nov. 30, 1946 Paper She/l [nvenzors James M Page,-Jr Vanderveer Voorhees This invention relates ing piling under water and particularly to an apparatus for .placingrpilin'g for anchorage purposes in the ocean floor where fixed anchorages Patented Jan. 29, 1952 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE SUBMARINE ANCHORAGE James M. Page, Jr., Chicago, and Vanderveer Voorhees, Homewood, 111., assignors to Standard Oil Company, Chicago, 111., a corporation of Indiana Application November 30, 1946, Serial No. 713,298

1 Claim.

to an apparatus for drivare required for various marine operations such as in the drilling of oil wells off shore.

One object of the invention is to provide an apparatus for placing piling below a considerable depth of water, for example 50 to 500 feet, without expensive driving equipment. Another object of the invention is to provide an apparatus for placing submarine piling without the use of divers, the entire operation being conducted from. the surface. Still another object of the invention is to provide immovable anchorages in the ocean floor for the attachment of cables .where, on. account of the depth of the water,

the barge and the derrick. It is also important to employ immovable anchors for supporting the well casing in position between the ocean floor and the surface. The use of conventional iron or steel anchors is not practical because of their tremendous size and correspondingly high cost where heavy stresses are encountered. The placing of piling in the ocean floor, however, has not heretofore been practicable because of the necessity of working under water requiring the employment of divers at high cost.

We have now devised a method for driving underwater piles rapidly, cheaply and effectively, particularly where the depth of the water is substantially greater than the length of the pile. Our invention is illustrated by a drawing which shows an apparatus for carrying out the method. Figure 1 shows the general arrangement of locating the pile on the ocean bottom; Figure 2 is a more detailed description of the pile-driving mechanism; Figure 3 shows a cartridge used in the operation.

Referring to Figure 1 of the drawing, the pile H], which may be of conventional wood or steel construction, e. g. steel tubing, is lowered to the desired location from barge H, the barge being 2 anchored in position for the operation by one or more conventional anchors It. In this operation, the pile is supported by drive tube 3 connected to the driving head !4, the tubing being supported from derrickl 5. As the pile is lowered additional lengths of tubing are attached at the barge floor as needed. Cable i6 is. attached to the pile ID at collar IT. This cable is not needed during the driving of the pile but is used for final anchorage. The upper end may be attached to a buoy so that the location of the pile may be determined after barge II has been removed to a different position.

Referring now to Figure 2 for a detailed description of the driving head 14, this head is preferably of solid steel with a tubular recess 18 which envelops the head of the pile l0. Shear pin I9 is employed to lock the pile to the driving head l4 while lowering it into position. This pin automatically shears off when the driving operation is started.

. On top of the pile is placed steel cap 20 which is particularly useful in'the case of woodpiling to prevent crushing the head of the pile by impact during the driving operation. Cable l6 may suitably be attached to the pile by swivel collar 2| lying in retaining groove 22 fixed to the pile. In the case of steel piling, collar 22 may be welded directly to the pile at a point just below the lower end of the driving head l4, whereas in the case of wood piling, the collar may be held in position by pins or bolts driven in or passed thru the body of the pile. Also, in the case of wood piling, a steel driving point 23 can be used.

Just above the cap 20 there is provided in the driving head a conical or hemispherical chamber 24 in which an explosive charge is fired to produce the desired impact on the head of the pile and force it into the formation. This charge is placed by dropping it thru the driving tube I3. The charge may be powder, e. g. smokeless powder, contained in a paper cartridge suitably water proofed and provided with a suitable detonator as illustrated in Figure 31.

Referring to Figure 3, the detonator 25 may be exploded by pin 25, thereupon exploding the powder charge 21. The shell of the cartridge should be designed to disintegrate in the act of explosion and leave no substantial amount of debris in the firing chamber '24 to interfere with the free movement of driving head M on the pile and the cap 20. The cartridge may be constructed of nitrated paper in order to obtain complete disintegration. The amount of the charge employed should be insufficient to drive the pile outside the head l4. When operating in formations of unknown resistance, it is desirable to employ initially a small charge and determine the progress of the pile after each explosion. The position of the pile is quickly determined by a sounding from a reference point on the drive tube l3.

The force of the explosion is directed downwardly against the piling by the inertia of the heavy steel driving head M and also the inertia of the water column above it. The latter is increased by increasing the area of the head as indicated at 28, and it is preferred to operate in water where the depth is at least twice the length of the pile in order to obtain a substantial reaction from the column of water above the driving head.

The water column standing within the tubing l3 supplies sufiicient inertia to react against the pressure generated in chamber 24 at the moment of explosion. If desired this may be increased by suspending within the tubing l3 a heavy steel bar (not shown) to increase the mass of material within the driving tube.

If desired, the cartridge may be so constructed that it will not explode on impact when dropping into the chamber 24 but may be exploded by percussion from a blow delivered by a steel bar lowered thru the driving tube 13. In this case the bar can be withdrawn after each shot in order to place the next succeeding charge.

After the piling has been driven to the desired depth, the driving tube 13 and head M to which it is connected are withdrawn by derrick l and attached to another pile for placing in the next location. Where the depth of the operation is not too great it is obviously not necessary to disjoint the tube l3 between driving operations but a large number of piles can be driven as rapidly as the barge l l canbe moved into the proper location. We have described our invention as it may be applied to a specific apparatus 4 for carrying it out but it is not intended that it be limited to the details thereof. Thus, for example, when using steel piling, cap 20 may be welded under the head of the pile and collar 2| may be loosely fitted around the pile, collar 22 being omitted. After the pile has been driven into the ocean floor to its full length, collar 2! will then engage the cap 20 and be prevented thereby from coming ofi. For long service we may employ piling of reinforced concrete.

Having thus described our invention what we claim is:

A pile driving apparatus adapted for driving piles beneath the surface of a body of Water being deeper than the length of said pile, said apparatus comprising a cap attached to the head of said pile, a driving head, a cylindrical bore within said driving head of slightly greater diameter than said cap, a substantial portion of said bore normally extending below said cap, an explosion chamber consisting of a recess within the upper end of said bore and of smaller diameter than said cap, a channel leading from said explosion chamber through the upper end of said driving head, an annular web at the upper end of said head and extending transverse to the longitudi nal axis of the head, and a supporting tube threaded to said head in aligned communication with said channel, a shear pin attaching said driving head in the region of said bore to the pile below said cap, and means for lowering said pile, driving head and supporting tube as a unit.

JAlVIES M. PAGE, JR. VANDERVEER VOORHEES.

REFERENCES CITED UNITED STATES PATENTS Name I Date Whipple Nov. 8. 1859 Number 

